Spirit of What Now?
by Dragonwriterofthenight
Summary: There are some pretty bizarre Spirits out there. But which one is the weirdest?


**Don't ask me how I came up with this, because I honestly have no idea.**

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><p>Most Spirits held an important role in the immortal and mortal world. The more powerful ones ruled over a holiday, or a season, or an important idea, and kept those things running smoothly. They have smaller Spirits to help them, and beneath them the Sprites. Then came the Fey, and the Fairies, and –finally- the Pixies. But no matter how low on the scale they were, they all held some sort of purpose, and worked well towards that. However, every now and then, a very random Spirit would pop up and be in charge of some very random thing. Chocolate Kiss, the Spirit of Sweets, is one example, as is Soda Pop, the Spirit of all things carbonated. But there was one Spirit that no one ever really understood. And that wis the Spirit of looking both ways before crossing the street. Seemed really silly, to be honest.<p>

Young Criss-cross Looksie had the most bizarre job in the world. Nobody really knew if Looksie was a male or a female, since he/she seemed to change gender every time a new person saw her/him. For the time being, let us refer to Criss-cross as a her.

Looksie's origins are unknown. She just seemed to randomly pop up one day, claiming to make sure that all humans, young and old, needed to look both ways before crossing the street. Obviously, she had to be a new Spirit, since this rule did not apply before cars were invented. As far as anyone could tell, she was no more than three decades old.

This young Spirit seemed to have different forms, contributing to the unknown gender factor. Generally, Criss-cross looked like a mid-twenty woman, with waist length golden brown hair, a lightly tanned face, and incredibly large brown eyes. Or, it was a mid-twenty man, with salt and pepper short hair (more pepper than salt), a slightly deeper tan, and normal-sized, almond-shaped crystal blue eyes. However, there have been accounts of Looksie having bright pink hair, hipster clothes, and always female. On the other hand, many claim to have seem him/her with black hair, Goth clothing, and a pale face. Sometimes it was a weird combination of the two. And that was just the start. Criss-cross has been seen as a little child, or an old adult. Sometimes his/her hair is short and sometimes it's long. Some think that they are all different Spirits, claiming to be the same one. Some have speculated that this is an elaborate prank put on by April Fools.

Whatever the case, nobody really seemed to know. In truth, the conspirators were partially true. Looksie was actually two people; male and female, and siblings (not twins, they just liked to be the same age as each other). Criss-cross was the male, and Looksie the female. Both had the power to change their appearance, for whatever reason, and did this to others simply for laughs. Their job gets kind of boring sometimes. And just how to they perform their job?

It is a team effort. Looksie reminds the pedestrians crossing the street to look, and Criss-cross reminds them to look both ways. Of course, they don't go to every single person individually. When they were first born as Spirits, they stole a cloud and now use it to travel across the world (they call it the fluff-mobile). Using the fluff-mobile, they can spread their reminders to 'look' and 'both ways' countries at a time, making their work much more effective.

I suppose the next question you're wondering is how did these Spirits ever come into being? That's an interesting story…

You see, there is a specific amount of magic residing over earth. Each major Spirit taps into that magic, and from there it passes down the line to the minor Spirits, Sprites, the Fey, Fairies, and Pixies. Because of this, a very specific number of major Spirits is needed in order to keep the balance of magic in check.

Creating Jack Frost made a serious shift in the balance of magic. But it was still balanced enough, so Man in Moon did not demote a Spirit to counteract Jack's power. However, as the decades and eventually centuries passed, the magic of earth became more and more unbalanced. A meeting of the highest beings had to be called.

"You made a mess of everything, creating that Winter boy!" Father Time complained.

"That is my son you're talking about!" Mother Nature bit back.

"And one of my favorites," Wind whispered.

"Enough!" Man in Moon shouted, ending the arguing. "Creating Jack was essential to destroying Pitch Black. Which will happen in about…thirty years or so."

"But now the magic is out of balance!" Father Time argued.

"It is out of balance," Wind agreed, "North is stronger than it should be." Wind was referring to the four corners of wind: North, South, East, and West. Since Jack rode on the North Wind, Wind's north side was growing.

"Okay, so do we demote a major Spirit?" Man in Moon asked.

Father Time pulled out an abacus from seemingly nowhere and began flipping the beads on it, making calculations. "No, that would create way more complications," he decided.

"So…what then?" Man in Moon responded.

"Hmmm…if we took away from some for Jack's power, and used it to make a Spirit on the opposite end of the scale…" Father Time mused.

"It would balance it out," Mother Nature finished.

"So a Summer Spirit?" Manny asked.

"Too powerful," Wind interjected, "Besides, there is already a Summer Queen."

Father Time flipped the beads on his abacus once more, nodding his head. "It doesn't have to be something opposite to Jack, just something that is completely unrelated to Winter at all. Something fairly weak, just enough to balance it out, but not too weak as to not make a difference."

"Great! What should this new Spirit be in charge of?" Manny asked.

"We must first find the candidate," Mother Nature reminded him. As one, they looked down and observed earth.

"Pick someone who will benefit from this, and not be taken away from family or friends," Wind suggested.

Manny nodded and narrowed in on a pair –male and female- walking down the street. He knew of these siblings. They had been raised as orphans, got out of the system as soon as possible, and still had nothing going for them. Perfect.

"How about them?" Manny suggested.

"Okay, now what will they be in charge of?" Father Time asked.

"I don't know, pick something," Manny replied irritably.

"They have to at least some sort of aptitude for it," Mother Nature reminded him.

Manny sighed and watched the siblings as they stopped at a crosswalk, looked both ways in synchronization, before deeming it safe to cross. "How about looking both ways before crossing the street?" he suggested, half-joking, half-serious.

"That is stupid," Wind replied bluntly.

"Got any better ideas?" Manny challenged.

"Wait, wait, hold up," Father Time interrupted, back at his abacus. "That's not powerful enough. They need to be a bit stronger."

"Give them the ability to change their form," Mother Nature suggested.

"Isn't that only for really powerful Spirits?" Manny asked.

"No," Wind said, "It actually takes no effort at all, you just never grant it to the Spirits you make."

"…Oh."

"Well, that will counteract it perfectly," Father Time decided, finished even more calculations on his abacus. "I guess it's settled then."

"Alright, let's get to it," Manny said, looking down once more on the siblings.

They weren't sure what happened. Alex and Amy were walking down the street when suddenly the moon got all bright and BOOM! Something in the wind whispered them brand new names, a big light flashed, and all of a sudden the siblings found themselves in what only could be described as a giant library.

"Can I help you?" a young voice asked behind them. They turned to see a little girl, around eight or nine, with salt and pepper hair (more salt than pepper), wearing an off-white dress standing behind them. On her head was a paper hat, and her red, no green, no purple, wait what? Her multicolored eyes that kept changing looked at them curiously.

A little boy her age came up and stood next to her. He had inky black hair, same eyes, and wore a white tunic that had miniscule writing all over it. A feathered quill was stuck behind his ear, and his brown trousers looked a little too big for him.

"Where are we?" Alex asked, but that didn't feel like his name anymore. He was sure it was Criss-cross.

"You're in the library of everything," the little boy replied, "I'm Quill."

"And I'm Paper," the girl added.

"Quill and Paper?" Amy said, though she swore her name was Looksie now.

"Yep!" they replied in sync.

"Oh, shoo you two," a new, older voice scolded. The two scampered off and a young woman, maybe in her early twenties, came up. Her eyes changed color as well, matching her changing hair color. She wore a simple white dress covered in writing that continued on her arms and all over her body. Only her face was clear. "You must be the two new Spirits. I'm whatever you want to call me, and I'll be explaining things to you. Before you ask anything, let me just explain everything. Spirits are immortal beings who control something. They often show up as fairy tales like Santa Clause, April Fools, the Groundhog, excreta. There are major Spirits, which is what you are, and all their power is carefully controlled to maintain a balance in magic. You two were created purely to maintain that balance. You two are the Spirits of looking both ways before crossing the street."

"That's…stupid," Alex/Criss-cross summarized.

"It is, but you can also change your form," the woman told them.

"Does that include age?" Amy/Looksie asked.

"Of course!"

Her eyes brightened and suddenly she was as tall and the same age as her brother. "Awesome!" she decided.

"Yes, but you two still have responsibilities. Paper! Quill! Find me that newest scroll for them to read so that I don't have to explain everything!"

"Yes Miss!" they called in sync and disappeared, returning moments later with a brand new scroll.

"All you need to know is in here…"

And so, the Spirits of looking both ways before crossing the street was created. Kind of stupid, if you asked me.

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><p><strong>This is weird at its highest level. Don't judge me?<strong>


End file.
